Methods and filling systems are known for filling containers with a liquid filling material composed of at least two components that are introduced separately into the respective container in a volume-controlled and/or amount-controlled manner, in particular also for the bottling of fruit juices in which case one component is a homogenous liquid and a further component exhibits, for example, a high proportion of solids, e.g. fruit pulp and/or fruit fiber.
Volume-measuring or amount-measuring devices or flowmeters, in particular contactlessly operating electronic flowmeters, for example magnetically inductive flowmeters, which may be very suitable for electrically conductive liquid and homogenous components and provide exact measurement signals depending on the particular volumetric flow rate but which are not or only partly suitable for non-homogenous components and in particular components containing a high concentration of solids, are often used for volume-controlled or amount-controlled filling.
For the volume-controlled or amount-controlled filling of a filling material composed of two components, it has already been proposed in our own but not yet published patent application DE 10 2009 049 583.5 that each of the components that are to be sequentially introduced into the respective container be provided with its own liquid path connected to a storage tank for the component concerned, and that a flowmeter be disposed in only one of the liquid paths, namely in the liquid path for a first liquid and homogenous component, said flowmeter directly measuring the amount of that component introduced into the respective container during filling and indirectly measuring the amount of a second component introduced into the respective container. This latter is achieved in that, before it is introduced into the container, the second component is passed into a part-length of the liquid channel of the first component and in the process the first component is displaced on this part-length and returns through the flowmeter into a tank holding the first component. This returning amount of the first component is measured with the flowmeter. The introduction of the second component into the tank does not take place directly while measuring, but in a further process step after measuring. There is a certain disadvantage in the fact that the components can mix together in the first liquid channel or in the part-length of said channel, and that, when being measured, the amounts of the first and second component flow through the flowmeter in opposite directions which can lead to measurement errors and/or necessitate a complex calibration of the flowmeter concerned.
The object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus that avoids the foregoing disadvantages. Suitable methods and apparatuses are recited in the attached claims.
In the case of the invention, the amount or volume of the at least one second component is also measured indirectly by measuring or capturing the first component's volumetric flow rate which results from the volumetric flow rate of the at least one second component, the volumetric flow rate of the least one second component being the volumetric flow rate of this component directly flowing to the respective container. During direct and indirect measuring of the amount or volume of all components, the flow through the flowmeter used for the measurement is in one and the same direction, this also being the direction of flow in which the first component flows through the first liquid channel when introduced into the respective container. This is made possible by the fact that at least one first chamber is associated with the first liquid channel for the first component and at least one second chamber with variable volume is associated with the second liquid channel for the second component, and that when the second component is introduced into the respective container, the volume of the at least one second chamber associated with the second component is reduced, starting from an initial volume and accompanied by an increase in the volume of the at least one first chamber associated with the first component. As a result of this the first component flows through the flowmeter and on into the at least one first chamber. The amount (volume) of the first component measured by the flowmeter is equal to the amount (volume) of the second component introduced into the container. If the volume-controlled or amount-controlled introduction of several “second” components into each container is necessary, then the above described indirect measurement of the amounts (volumes) of the “second” components is carried out with a time delay.
Further embodiments, advantages and possible applications of the invention arise out of the following description of embodiments and out of the figures. All of the described and/or pictorially represented attributes whether alone or in any desired combination are fundamentally the subject matter of the invention independently of their synopsis in the claims or a retroactive application thereof. The content of the claims is also made an integral part of the description.